Monday 4 April 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 4th April, 2011

Today's weather;

At last Samui woke up under sunshine, this morning! Clean up work is going on and repair work started everywhere. New pictures pop up everywhere and I try to give you some idea how mad it was and how things are right now. Current temp at 7am is 26 C

Thanks to Wieslaw for your donation, much appreciated, it helps to keep the spirits up and keep the blog going!

Yesterday saw a tiny bit of rain in the morning on Samui but sunshine during a hot afternoon! Max temp reached 29C

Some excellent pictures can be found on the My Home Koh Samui blog.

Many people keep asking about the condition of the beaches around Samui, well, here's a picture of Free House Bungalow on Bophud beach by Oh, from 2nd April. Later today I hope to get some picture from the beach near Centara hotel in Chaweng.

An aerial picture of Phun Phin, where Surat Thani's railway station is located, 4 meters of water were reported here, picture from the Bangkok Post.
On a good note, apparently highway 44 between Krabi and Surat Thani is open again so my gateway to Samui is open, now I can get to Surat and just need to find a way to get to Donsak and take a ferry to Samui come the 9th April.

How it was, bridge in Chaweng near Ali Baba, picture by Joe Clasby.

Parking

Sunset yesterday on Koh Lanta

Koh Lanta also woke up under a blue sky with a current temp at 7am of 24C

Yesterday saw a nice and hot day on Koh Lanta, max temp reached 32,4C

Camille

44 comments:

Petra said...

Camille,
Looks like reading your comments made me come to Samui anyways...see you soon ! Best regards Petra

Camille said...

Hi Petra, people on Samui will be happy to see you. Hope you will enjoy your stay!

JOB said...

How is the snorkling situation at and around Samui? Any improvement in visibility?

Adam Szental said...

Hi Camille,

We are planning on coming April 17th to Koh Samui (Centara Grand Beach Resort)

Do you know if this hotel in specific has sustained any damage and if so to what extent?

We are also a little concerned with the possibility of mosquito carrying diseases, are you able to comment on this at all?

Thank's for the updates!

Camille said...

Hi Adam,

Centara should be up and running and especially come the 17th April the hotel should be in full swing.

Good question about mosquito's, most likely special staff will go and spray puddles with mosquito 'killers', still worthwhile being careful though. On the other hand, hopefully it will so warm in the near couple of days that all puddles will disappear.

Camille said...

Hi Job,

I would expect the water to be rather murky for the next few weeks around immediate Samui because of the run off water coming out of the mountains.

I would expect the sites around Koh Tao to clear up a lot faster!

Unknown said...

Hi Camille

Arriving on the 17th April and staying for 10 days. Our first visit and we are staying at Baan Chaweng Beach Resort. Any news on their status after the floods?

Cheers

Mark

Unknown said...

Hi Camille and thank you again for all your fantastic news about Samui!
We will be arriving at Bangkok on the 17th of april.
We are suppose3d to fly to Surat Tani then take a bus to Dansak Pier and then take a boat to Samui.
Do you know if it will be possible or do you advise us to take a plane directly to Samui? (we have already bought our tickets to Surat Tani but if we dont have choice...)

Many thanks for your help.
Very much appreciated!

David

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille my girlfriend and I are visiting koh samui for a 17 night stay starting the 27th of April. We are planning to stay in suneast bungalows on cheweng beach. Do you know if chaweng will be all cleaned up by this date and if the bungalows have sustained any damage?we have emailed them and asked but no reply as yet. Many thanks and hope all is well, Paul

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille,

thanks for keeping everybody updated. Tomorrow I should arrive to Koh Phanang. I believe the situation there is similar to Samui - everything is almost fine and hopefully I will have relaxing vacation?

Leo

Camille said...

Hi Deon,

Please keep following my daily updates, I expect the island to be up and running again within two weeks.

Everybody is determined to get things going again and keep in mind that the main land is hit much worse than Samui!

Camille said...

Hi David,

By the 17th I would expect Surat Thani's airport to be open again and the bus to be able to get to Donsak where the ferry to Samui leaves.

Play it by ear but I don't think at this stage that the airport won't be open by than, that will have a priority.

Camille said...

Hi Paul,

Right now I don't have any info an individual resorts but by the end of the month Samui will be business as usual!

Camille said...

Hi Leo,

Koh Phangan is similar to Samui and they're working hard to get things up and going again. The ferries are running since a few days already.

Clean up and repair work is in full swing!

Anonymous said...

I am supposed to be travelling to samui on 8 May 2011 for 2 weeks. Do you think it will be okay and will I be able to get there by train and ferry?

Camille said...

Not sure about trains to Surat Thani but you can get off in Chumpon and take a ferry over Koh Tao - Koh Phangan into Samui, probably even faster than going through Surat!

Ferries are up and running, no probs there!

Yui said...

Dear Camille,

Me and my husband are due to Saumi on the 24th of April. Due to the flood disaster in Samui, I wrote an email asking about the situation at the resort on Lamai beach. The answer is every things fine. I couldn't 100% sure about the answer. Could you let me know, what will the beaches and road condition be like by the time we are there? How Lamai beach is now?

Regards,

Yui

Camille said...

Hi Yui,

By the 24th April I do expect everything to be back to normal again!

Please come to Samui and I'm sure that you will enjoy it!

Jignesh said...

Hey Camille

I've been reading your blog since the flash floods.

I'm due to arrive in Koh Samui on April 22nd. I'm really keen to know how the general state of the place is post the flooding?

This is my main holiday in the past 2 yrs and do not want it ruined.
Should I cancel the trip and look to come another time in your opinion?
I'm staying on Lamai Beach - do u know if this area is affected much?


I don't want my trip limited in where i can go etc.
The main reason i chose Samui over Phuket was Samui is meant to get less rain than Phuket at the time i'm going.

I just want my trip to thailand to be great and if that means i have to wait than so be it.

But i'd like your honest thoughts.

Many thanks for your help mate.

Warm regards,
Jignesh.

Camille said...

Hi Jignesh,

Right now Samui is in full clean up and repair mode!

Around the 22nd I expect Samui to be back to business as usual but I can't give you any guarantee about any restrictions, if you want to be 100% sure, I would suggest Phuket!

Marileen said...

Dear Camille, we are coming to Koh Samui during the last week of April and it is great to hear that things are looking better as we have been looking forward to our holiday for a long time. We are also scuba divers and were wondering what the current scuba diving conditions are? Also, do people normally dive with full wetsuits or just in swimming costumes? Thanks and keep the blog going, we are reading it everyday to see how things are going there. Marileen

Camille said...

Hi Marileen,

By the end of the month I expect diving conditions to be back to normal and that should be very good, great viz!

In general shorties and a rash vest should be fine but a 3mm shorty or full length is also widely used!

Please let me know when you're here and I'm more than happy to sort you out with your diving needs!

Fredrik said...

Hi Camille!

My namne is Fredrik. Me and my girlfriend are going to Koh Samui the 30th of april and staying on samui and sorrounding island for 30 days. Ive looked around the internet because of the heavy rainfall the last weeks and stumbled upon your blog. Since all of the homepages that shows the weatherprognosis shows different weather I thaug "hey, why don't mail the guy". So here I am asking you if you think it's recomended to travel to koh samui and the archipelago? And with your knowledge of the weather, do you know how the weather will be in may?

Kind regards
Fredrik

Camille said...

The weather should be just fine, no rain like we just had is predicted or expected. In my opinion it should be just fine. Please keep following my blog for updates!

Fredrik said...

Thaks for the quick answer. I will follow your blog!

/Fredrik

Camille said...

You're welcome Fredrik!

Valérie said...

Hi Camille,
We planned to come on April 9th to Koh Samui and Koh Tao with a small
child. We could change dates and come when things get on a better base. In
your opinion, which month (we could come till February 2012) would be best
to avoid heavy rains such as in the past days ? Warm regards from
Valérie

Camille said...

Hi Valérie,

If you have the option to change I would go for August, prime conditions and not as hot as April should be!

Hope this helps for now.

kapil said...

I am coming to bangkok on 9th april and had booked train tickets for the same night to surat thani reaching surat thani at 8 am is this route open or should i book air tickets though it will be expensive proposition as we are 8 people travelling please give an honest and informed appraisal as to what should be done

Camille said...

Hi Kapil,

Not sure about trains to Surat Thani on the 9th but you can get off in Chumpon and take a ferry over via Koh Tao - Koh Phangan into Samui, probably even faster than going through Surat!

Ferries are up and running, no probs there!

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille - thank you for the blog update which i read today with great interest. My husband and i are heading out for a well deserved break to Koh Samui in two weeks and have been understandably concerned by the flood news. So things are getting back to normal? Has the flooding subsided now or are there places still under water?

Camille said...

The floodings have subsided on Samui and are receding as we're speaking. Most places have no water anymore. In two weeks time I would expect business as usual.

Jignesh said...

Thanks very much for your swift reply Camille.

I will continue to monitor events.
Trouble is Phuket is likely to get more rain than Samui around my visit so that probably won't solve the issue either?

Warm regards,
Jignesh.

Camille said...

Hi Jignesh,

In my opinion you will be just fine but it's a bit unrealistic to expect a 100% unlimited hassle free trip considering what Samui has just gone through.

On the other hand, everybody on Samui is doing his and hers uttermost best to get things going again and in over two weeks time you should be fine, in my opinion.

Angel said...

Hi Camille!

Whilst we are tourists - we know and love Samui - we like to eat at local places in Chaweng like Ninjas etc and wander around Chaweng.
We are due to arrive on the 13th April for 3 weeks, to stay at the Baan Samui (we stayed there 3 years ago). We appreciate flooding will have gone, but are slightly concerned about the general state of Chaweng, as we are travelling with our 4 year old daughter.
Any information you can provide would be appreciated. We are not looking to cancel our Thailand trip but may consider re-locating further north....
Thanks

Angel

Camille said...

Hi Angel,

Everybody is working very hard at getting things in good order again as quickly as possible. In my opinion I would expect the general state of Chaweng to be good enough for a 4 year old but if you want to be sure than I definitely suggest re-locating.

Valérie said...

Hi Camille,

Thank you so much for the tip !

Warm regards
Valérie

Camille said...

You're welcome Valérie.

Jignesh said...

Understood Camille.

Thx for your help mate.
Warm regards,
Jignesh.

Camille said...

Jignesh,

Whatever you decide, I hope you will enjoy your trip!

Robert and Petra said...

Hi Camille,
we have booked 15 nights in santhiya resort &spa on koh phangan and will arrive on 04/15/11. Can you give us some actual information about the current situation on the island of koh phangan and the weatherforecast for the next days? We tried to get in contact with the hotel already but didn`t get an answer right now. Your blog is very helpfull those times , when its very hard to get trustfull information about the situation.
With kind regards
Robert and Petra

Camille said...

Hi Robert and Petra,

The information I have about Koh Phangan indicates that they have been and are in a similar situation as Samui. Come the 15th I would expect the island to be more or less in business as usual.

Yui said...

Thank you Camille. I'll keep monitor the developing from your websit.

Yui

Camille said...

Hi Yui,

Thanks and I hope that everything will work out just fine for you during your trip to Samui!